Pineland Farms Trail Challenge

Well, the summer is officially started for me with the Pineland Farms 50K. This race had been up in the air if I was going to run it or not, but with the plan of stacking races though the spring and summer for Burning River, it ended up being a prefect time to jump to a longer race.

Getting up to Maine was absolutely beautiful. I had not been to Maine in a long time and was pretty happy to mark it off my state list. My third state for the year already!

I had saw on the Ultra list that some folks, Mike and Paige, were going to be heading up there. I actually ran into them in the parking lot before the race. Mike’s colorful chili pepper shorts gave him away. I chatted a bit with them and it was time for me to get ready for the race.

While getting ready, I started talking the guy in the car next to me. His name was Blaine and he was a local runner who ran with the Trail Monsters running club who runs trails in the area. I got some course tips and advice from him. As we talked more, he saw my Vertical Runner shirt and realized he knew my friend and fellow VR runner Lloyd! Small world.

The Course

The Pineland race course is made of a 25K figure eight (or what felt like a figure eight) loop. Basically, about 10 miles on the first loops that weaves in and out of single track pine woods to tall grassy fields. The back 5 miles was mostly trail with some bigger hills.


The hills on the course were constant. You were either going up or down. No flat really. The toughest sections for me were the grass fields. The angle of the trail in those sections had you running almost sideways. But the change of terrain was pretty constant which helped.

The Race
We gathered in the start corral for the pre-race meeting. We got the low down on the course and also instructed not to bitch about the fields. Everyone got a laugh out of that.

Then we were off! I went out a bit fast early on. (Shocking I know.) But after 7 or 8 miles I settled into a good pace. It was about then my stomach started flip-flopping on me. After a bit, another runner started running with me. She recognized my VR shirt and ended up being VR’s Inov rep! This world keeps getting smaller! We talked for a bit while holding a pretty good pace. My stomach was still going nuts so I was quietly looking for a strategic place to puke. The company did me wonders and eventually, I got things under control.

After hitting the back loop, I went through the first lap in 2:08. A bit fast, but I was very happy I was on pace to finally break 5 hours (my goal for the day.) Bad news was I had missed my drop bag somehow. DOH! Oh well.

I kept an even pace and ran all the hills until finally about mile 20 which has a pretty big hill. By now it was nice, the 25kers were out on the course with us and they were awesome to run with and being very encouraging.

As I headed back towards the final back loop I was starting to feel a bit tired. I needed those gels that were in my drop bag. As luck would have it, an aide station appeared! Perfect timing. I grabbed some food and left the aide station while they were playing one of my favorite songs of all time, Whipping Post by the Allman Brothers…

“Oh Lord, I feel like I am dying, yeah…” echoed from the station as I ran out towards the final back loop. Rather appropriate timing for that song.

Feeling better but still feeling a bit low once I got to the back loop, I decided it was time for the old standby. I hit another aide station and it was time for some tunes.

Funny how songs take on a new meaning when hear them in a new light. The first tune started playing and it was The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance. For the most part, I really hate most EMO crap. I mean seriously, how you can put Emo bands on the same playing field as The Sex Pistols, Black Flag, or Bad Religion is a joke. Anywaaaaaay, this song has a lot of meaning to me and got me moving again.

I pushed through the final back loop. It was then I was passed by the 50 mile winner, Leigh Schmidt! He said hi and hung with him for a bit. I was fighting off some quad cramping issues, but was still able to run some hills.

Next, I came up on Paige. She was doing great and running still very strong. I had read on her blog she was very happy to be there in Maine and was really excited. So, it was nice seeing she was having a great day, too. We talked a bit and I pushed on as she stopped to stretch out her legs.

The last few miles I ran with this guy who was hilarious. He was a 25ker. We kept playing leap frog. I would pass him, and he would pass me back. Each time he gave me the rocker sign and put his fist out to give me “knucks.”

I hit the last aid station and by my calculations (or as I call it, Finish Line Algebra), I was hoping I could finish in the 4:30s which would have been sweet. By now my legs were pretty shot so the last mile took a bit longer…ended up 4:41 on the clock. A PR by 31 minutes! Pretty thrilled with that.

The Stats

I am still collecting data about my races and using my heart rate is working very well. I had misjudged a bit in the early stages of this race and went out about 7:20 pace. Once I found a better pace I hung in the 8:30-9:30 pace for most of the race.

As you can see, I spent most of the time in Zone2 (132-147 bpm) and Zone3 (147-162 bpm) which is where I wanted to be. My overall average was 150bmp which is about 73% of my maximum heart rate based on a max of 192 and a resting heartrate of about 40.

For this kind of race, I think this is where I should have been. So, all in all, pretty good results. I am getting on track with where I want to be by August in the heat.

Great Kobe vs LeBron commercial

If you have not seen this commercial yet, it is awesome! I loved it!

Pacing at Cleveland Marathon

The email came in Tuesday morning…”Cleveland Marathon lost it’s second half pacer for the 3:20 pace group.” Being only days away, this isn’t good. Since I wasn’t going to run Cleveland this year and taper for the 50k the next weekend, I was like, what the hell. Nice fast run..1:40 half marathon then back off the rest of the week. Sounds like fun!

Ok, so for all you non-runners out there…a MARATHON pacer is a person who runs with a sign as a specific pace so people who are trying to run a certain speed or qualify for Boston have some one to help them. They are free of charge and supplied by the marathon for it’s participants.

So, I got the call from Kelly, who heads up the pace group. She informed me that 3:20 was covered now, but they had some problems with the 3:00 pacers. Hmmm. 1:40 half marathon a week before an ultra..sure…, but a 1:30 half might hurt a bit more. Doable…but would probably impact my race. We then worked out a plan to have three people instead of two cover the 3:00 group. Cool.

She then asked me if I had experience pacing. I told her I had. But it usually involved a head lamp, being up all night, and at least one person puking. Kelly informed me that it should be that bad. Bummer!

I went to the expo and got to meet all kinds of people and also met some folks who were going to try and break 3 hours the next day. Vince was there with Vertical Runner. Talked to him a bit while there too. Also got to see tons of the VR Training group folks. It was a total blast.

Some of the perks of the weekend was a hotel room downtown in the Radisson (great view of the city), valet parking, VIP access to everywhere, food, shirts, more food, more shirts…it was great. So, I got to do what I love doing and got paid for it. Sweeeet.

So, the next day was crazy. Got up and headed down to the Galleria to meet up with the other pacers. Found Sean, one of the other 3 hours guys (pictured above next to me with his tongue out Gene Simmons style), and headed to the start coral. Right up front and center. Right behind the elites. Pretty damn cool. Having trained with a few of the folks up there, I talked with them for a bit. Wished them luck and BANG...off we went!

We shot out the start a bit quick and rounded the stadium at about 5:30 pace. A bit fast. The guys were going to back it down and get in a groove. I hit the first mile marker so my watch was synced and bit them farewell until mile 18.

We were then rushed to a car and escorted out to Mile 18. And waited.

I got warmed up and started running in reverse to meet up with the group. Saw the leaders going past. A bunch of the SERC guys came flying past. Everyone looked and was running very strong. Then I saw the balloons. It was Sean….RIGHT ON TIME!

I started running with Sean and got a quick briefing of how things were going. We were a bit a head of schedule, but we wanted to run around a 2:59. We were at 6:46 pace so things were looking good. He still had a group runners, and in the group was the first place female. I took the balloons and Sean dropped back to help another VR runner qualify for Boston (way to go, Sean! and congrats Howard!)

For the record, it isn’t easy running with those balloons in that wind. But, I found a way to rest it on my shoulder and pushed through it. The group pasted Mile 23 and we were still on time. At this point, I started to pick up people who were ahead of me and told them this train was pulling in BEFORE 3:00 on the clock. A few guys were hurting, but some encouragement helped and they were hanging with us. The group kept growing.

As we rounded towards the finish, the wind got worse and worse. I began to yell at people to get behind me so they could draft a bit and get out of the wind. I remembered how windy it was at Boston this year, so I knew it was beating on them pretty good by now. By mile 26, I had a line of guys in a train. Not realizing I had picked up about 5 guys. I guess I wasn’t joking about bringing this train in on time! They got a kick out of the “Pain Train” comment ala Terry Tate.

As we pushed down the home stretch, the crowd was going nuts. It was great. Then I could see the clock…oh yeah!

We did it! 2:59:16! On the money!!!!

I crossed the timing mats at the finish line and I walked to get a drink of water. On my way, I was tackled from behind. One of the "Pain Train" members was hugging me, completely out of breathe, and saying he could have not done it without me. What cool experience….except the whole guy hug thing and all…well, you know.

As for pacing, sign me up! I told Kelly, I had a great time and would LOVE to do it again. However, my next pacing gig is going to be back in the woods in June.

Divided by Night: New Crystal Method Album!

Finally! After 5 years, a new album from one of my favorite groups out there, The Crystal Method, has released Divided by Night. I grabbed it the day it came out on iTunes and listened to it at work all day. Great album! Not quite as good as their first album Vegas, but it keeps growing on me the more I listen to it.

If you jump on iTunes, check out tracks: Divided by Night, Smile?, Double Down Under, and my favorite Drown In the Now featuring Matisyahu (awesome song!)

Sadly, checking their website, no Cleveland dates have been released for the tour. I have caught them several times over the years and they still rank as one of the best shows I have ever seen.

However, there is one in Vegas…hmmmmm.

Run 4 Life

While I was in Boston, my roommate, Joe, and I had many discussions about training. Joe is a bit heart rate training guy. It is how he has trained for many years and credits it to staying healthy and injury-free. He has been running a very long time and still gets it done. (Over 50 years old and runs a sub 3 hour marathon!) He credits it to his heart rate based training. Thinking he might be on to something.

Now, the funny part is I have been wearing a HRM for quite some time. You would think I would be looking at that data more closely. I review it after a race, but that is pretty much the extent of it. I guess I approached it from the idea of seeing what my heart rate was at a certain pace and distance instead of looking at it the other way around, what my pace is at a certain heart rate.

Basically, my racing is very similar, I typically go out too fast and never, NEVER adjust for things like wind and hills on my pacing. I always jokingly say my race strategy is this: light my hair on fire and run to towards the finish line. (Which explains the second half of Boston.) For the most part this has worked pretty well, but I see some huge gain if I were to even out my pacing. Paying closer attention to the down hills in the beginning of Boston may have helped in the second half. So, I have decided to really bring in HR based training and racing.

First, I needed a bench mark. So I thought this race would be good. I used a previous 5k as a guide and determined my pacing from there. However, at the last minute, I changed my heart rate zones to be a bit more aggressive. What could go wrong, right?

Read on.

So, at the race I saw some folks I knew and chatted with them while I got ready. Got warmed up with Tracy and Paul, then headed to the start. And off we went.

Like in typical fashion, my pacing was dead on my new expected rate and hit the first mile marker 5:59. Hmmm. I was had originally was thinking 6:15 pace was a better starting point. But I was feeling pretty good. Who doesn’t at mile one, right?

At this point, I had moved into the number 5 slot was right behind number 4 guy and I had Tracey and Paul right behind me. We hit mile two at 12:20 and still held our same positions. I was right behind 4th place guy, and Tracey and Paul and drifted back a bit. Still going well, but starting to feel it a bit. At this point the wind really picked up on the course.

We hit mile 3 at 18:50, but now 4th place guy was pulling from me and I was really feeling it. At about 3.5 miles Tracey caught me. I had thought about pushing it again, but didn’t want to jeopardize 6th place as well and let her go.

We round the corner and finished the race in 25:26. A new 4 mile PR! Good for 6th overall and 2nd in my age group. Not bad for a “test” race. My fifth PR of the year, too!

So what did I learn?

My max heart rate isn’t as high as I had thought. The last minute change in zones nailed me a bit in late stages of the race. However, I have a great plan for a 5k now.

Wind really does impact your heart rate…Joe you were right!

Over the summer, I am going to do much more heart rate analysis on my runs and races and see what I can do by fall.

First Place at Run for the Border!

I teamed up with Steve H from Vertical Runner for this race in downtown Cleveland. It was a total blast. Here is how the race goes down…you run from station to station. At each station you get a clue where the next one is. No one knows the exact route. All we knew was it was 3-3.5 miles.

Not knowing until just before we started there was going to be drinking involved. I am not sure, but it was right then I knew this was going to be the greatest race ever.

So, 3-3.5 miles, 1 shot of tequila, and 1 corona later Steve and I cross the line. Almost 20 minutes flat. Cleared second place by 10 seconds. Two minutes faster than last year's winning time. So, it was a course record, too! How 'bout that!

I have to say, it wasn’t pretty. Holding a 6 minute pace after a shot of tequila and chugging a beer was ROUGH. ROUGH! But they say you learn a lot about yourself running. I wasn't expecting learning this.

But a win is a win. Guess Steve and I have to return next year to defend our crown.

Until then, I will be drinking, err, I mean training.